City Hall Blog

Dallas council members take first pass at re-working rules for cabs, limos and app-based car service companies

Boris Breslav is a Dallas driver for Uber, the San Francisco-based technology company that insists it's not a transportation provider.

Dallas City Council members appear eager to revamp the city’s regulations for taxi cabs, limousines and app-based car service companies. But it still remains to be seen what exactly that overhaul will entail.

Several council members on Tuesday took a first pass in the Transportation and Trinity River Project Committee at debating what could end up being a total re-write of that portion of the city’s code.

Among the major possible tweaks are deregulation of how fares are calculated, adjustment of some of the insurance requirements for those companies and fine-tuning of the permitting process for companies, drivers and vehicles.

But other than most agreeing that something – anything – has to be done to address the increasingly complex industry, council members offered far from a consensus on how city staff should proceed in drafting an ordinance.

Some, such as Vonciel Jones Hill, said the rules being suggested by staff regulate too little. Others, such as Philip Kingston, said they regulate too much. And nearly all of the eight council members at the meeting had quibbles with some aspects of the proposed regulations.

“It’s going to take years to get this straightened out,” Council member Tennell Atkins said, offering among the more pessimistic takes on the proceedings.

The so-called “transportation-for-hire” regulations have been in the spotlight ever since August.

That’s when a revised ordinance – drafted with the help of Yellow Cab representatives – was almost pushed through the council by city staff. Some said that version would’ve driven app-based companies, such as Uber and Lyft, from the Dallas market.

In the aftermath of that fiasco – which elicited an apology from City Manager A.C. Gonzalez – the council decided to reexamine those rules. The growth of those app-based companies, which aren’t regulated under the current rules, also hastened that push.

Council member Sandy Greyson has led for the past several weeks a special work group to hash out challenges and possible changes. The group featured representatives from all industry stakeholders, from cabs to limos to car service.

And they produced what Greyson called a “compromise” proposal.

“Not everybody loves everything,” she said. “But everybody can live with it.”

An underlying goal of those proposed changes was to bring a market-based approach a field that’s been lacking competition, city staff said. So all the different kinds of companies would be, for the most part, treated under the same rules and same requirements.

“The market will determine which of the companies survive,” said Charles Cato, an interim assistant city manager. “Those who meet their customers expectations will survive and those that do not, will not.”

That overall concept won praise from council members. But the details proved to be a bit more complicated.

Among the major concerns from council members on Tuesday was making sure all companies would have to provide citywide service. Some have accused the newer app-based companies of denying service, for instance, to southern Dallas.

Others council members, such as Lee Kleinman, wanted to discuss when commercial insurance has to be in effect. Is only when a passenger is in the car? Or is it when a driver is cruising around, looking for service?

Some, such as Atkins, derided the suggestion that there no longer be a rule that cars be a below a certain age and mileage. He didn’t seem impressed by city staff’s explanation that annual vehicle inspections would take care of that.

Others, such as Hill, said they didn’t want to delete rules that allow vehicles powered by compressed natural gas to go to the front of the line at Love Field. She didn’t seem to be moved by the proposed alternate incentive of a $25 discount in vehicle permit fees.

The discussion will next head to the full council for a briefing, with city staff promising to bring a variety of options. Then the council will open a public comment period before taking up a draft ordinance in a more formal way.

If the process goes according to plan, the new regulations would be in place by next January.

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